Healthier lunches go back to school

Sending kids back to school with healthier lunches—and actually getting them to eat them—is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

I was not a lunchbox and thermos kid growing up. My school lunches were strictly brown bag and consisted almost invariably of a peanut butter and jelly (almost invariably grape) sandwich, a banana of questionable vintage (or a box of raisins, similarly carbon dated) and, on rare occasions, a cookie or piece of candy. I bought milk at school, unless I found more interesting uses for my milk money at the confectionery across from the playground. This would have been a healthy, if boring, lunch, if I had eaten it. More often than not, I made it about halfway through my food before bailing and heading for the playground.

As someone who taught elementary school for a few years (and did my share of lunchroom duty), I’m here to tell parents that my school lunch experience was not uncommon. So as we hear more and more about how school performance is linked to nutrition, how do we get kids to actually eat lunch at school—and eat healthy? Continue reading “Healthier lunches go back to school” →

No. 246 takes a less meat-centric approach to Southern cooking

A new Decatur, Georgia restaurant focusing on pasta, pizza, seafood and farm-fresh produce is the subject of a recent USA Character Approved Blog post.

I remember a Southern Sunday dinner years ago, at my Aunt Veta’s house in Mississippi. I can’t even recall now why we were visiting, but I remember the meal. It was mid-afternoon, and there were more than a dozen of us crowded around a long, oilcloth-covered table on her screened in back porch. And there were three kinds of meat!

Fried chicken, barbecued pork chops and a ham all vied for my attention—and all got it, in turn. I was in carnivore heaven. Much of Southern cuisine still reflects this meat-focused view, especially with the farm-to-table movement and its emphasis on nose-to-tail eating driving a lot of restaurant kitchens. But a pair of chefs just outside Atlanta are taking a less meat-centric approach at their new restaurant, No. 246. Continue reading “No. 246 takes a less meat-centric approach to Southern cooking” →

Small Bites: Snow cones, cocktails and seven pounds of chocolate

Snow cones going artisanal with small batch syrups is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And Marion and I are asked to judge chocolate. Lots of it.

Snow cones are a primal summer pleasure. I remember staring at the spouted bottles of colorful syrup at the snow cone stand as a kid, agonizing over my flavor choice. If the stand allowed you two flavors (or sometimes even three! three!), the decision became exponentially harder.

Now a former Chicago restaurateur is making the decision a lot more interesting. Melissa Yen used to run one of our favorite weekend breakfast haunts, Vella Café. Frustrated by the limited choices in syrups for flavoring coffee for the café, she started experimenting with her own. Out of those caffeine-fueled adventures, Jo Snow Syrups was born. Continue reading “Small Bites: Snow cones, cocktails and seven pounds of chocolate” →

Purple Asparagus: Changing the way kids eat, one classroom at a time

Purple Asparagus, an organization that’s teaching kids to eat in ways that are healthier for the body and the planet, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

The numbers on obesity in America are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a third of us are considered not just overweight, but obese. And while obesity rates have doubled for adults from 1980 to 2008, they’ve tripled for children. A frightening 17 percent of children aged 2 to 19 are now classified as obese.

Overweight kids tend to become overweight or obese adults, and that puts them at risk for associated adult health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and several kinds of cancer. In fact, some overweight and obese children are starting to show signs of cardiovascular problems formerly only seen in adults. Purple Asparagus is one of a number of organizations working to get kids—and communities—eating healthier. Continue reading “Purple Asparagus: Changing the way kids eat, one classroom at a time” →

BODUM’s colorful new knife holder is no chip off the old knife block

The unboring, unblocky BODUM Bistro Universal Knife Block is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

One of the biggest problems in most kitchens is storage. More precisely, the lack of enough of it. For many home cooks, storing knives is one of the toughest challenges. You need them readily available when you’re cooking, but you also need them some place safe—both for you and the blades.

For years, wooden knife blocks have been the answer. The chunky, counter space-gobbling answer. And if you’ve built your knife collection one carefully chosen knife at a time (the best way to do it, by the way), chances are the knife block’s pre-cut slots won’t perfectly accommodate your collection. Enter BODUM’s Bistro Universal Knife Block. Continue reading “BODUM’s colorful new knife holder is no chip off the old knife block” →

Small Bites: A farm built by sheep, and craft beers team up with a food truck

The unexpected making of Mint Creek Farm is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And Half Acre Beer Company and Gaztro-Wagon team up for one delicious night.

We’ve been buying lamb (and on occasion, mutton and goat) from Mint Creek Farm for a couple of years now. Mostly, we pick it up at farmers markets here in Chicago and always seem to get into great conversations about the farm with whoever’s working the booth. Still, when I decided to write about their certified organic farm in downstate Illinois for the USA Character Approved Blog, I thought it would be worth checking in with someone at the farm to see what was new. As luck would have it, soon I was on the phone with Harry Carr. He and his wife Gwen started the farm almost 20 years ago, and Harry has a reputation for having a way with a story. Continue reading “Small Bites: A farm built by sheep, and craft beers team up with a food truck” →

Medium Rare: Well done steaks and wine in DC

A neighborhood restaurant that lets you choose your wine, but not your dinner, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

One of life’s most exquisite little pleasures for me is a neighborhood bistro with steak frites on the menu. Unfortunately, such bistros will often have duck confit, lamb shanks or other alluring carnivorous delights on the menu as well. And then I’m sunk decisionwise. I think I may need to move to our nation’s capital. Medium Rare opened there this spring with a single entree choice on its menu. Continue reading “Medium Rare: Well done steaks and wine in DC” →

Small Bites: Ice cream trucks, Seattle street food moves inside and how to cook like a Momofuku

Three recent posts on USA Network’s Character approved Blog cover a lot of ground—and flavors.

Ice cream trucks loom large in our collective summer memory bank. Who hasn’t urgently pleaded for ice cream money from whichever parent was the softer touch when the siren song of the Mister Softee truck or the Bomb Pop guy caught our ear?

A diminishing number of these old school trucks still prowl the streets of some neighborhoods, but a new breed of ice cream trucks is serving up artisanal ice creams in exotic flavors, made from carefully sourced ingredients. Continue reading “Small Bites: Ice cream trucks, Seattle street food moves inside and how to cook like a Momofuku” →

Brew with a view: Eataly opens a 15th floor rooftop brewery, Birreria

Birreria, Eataly’s new rooftop brewery and brew pub, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

One thing I love about New York is how the city makes use of every square inch of outdoor public space. And how the city’s residents embrace this space. The recently expanded High Line, abandoned elevated railroad tracks turned into a park and immediately (and perhaps obsessively) loved by New Yorkers, is an obvious example. But so too are smaller, quieter spaces. On the Upper West Side, the Broadway Mall Association maintains gardenlike median strips with benches at each cross street. Those benches are almost always populated by people enjoying a morning coffee, a bit of sunshine or just being outside.

So I was a little surprised that it took New York, perhaps the most vertical city in the world, so long to discover its rooftops. Continue reading “Brew with a view: Eataly opens a 15th floor rooftop brewery, Birreria” →

Put a sommelier in your smartphone

18th century lexicographer, writer, critic and probable Tourette Syndrome sufferer Samuel Johnson once said, “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” When shopping for wine, I frequently use the second kind of knowledge. And most often, my source is Marion. She not only knows much more about wine than I do, she remembers more about it. (Note to self: Could that be because I drink more of it than she does?)

But now there’s a smartphone app that possibly knows even more about wine than Marion and me put together. And it’s free. Continue reading “Put a sommelier in your smartphone” →